Kenya has performed dismally in this year’s global Corruption Perception Index released by Transparency International.

Kenya scored 25 on a scale of zero to 100 — with zero perceived to be highly corrupt, and 100 very clean — down two points from last year’s score of 27.

The country was ranked at position 145 out of 174 countries and territories ranked in the 20th edition of the index.

The index measures the perceived levels of public sector corruption in countries and territories worldwide.

Among the East Africa Community countries, Rwanda was the top performer with a score of 49 at position 55 globally. Its score has, however, dropped from 53 in 2013.

TANZANIA SECOND

Tanzania was second with a score of 31 at position 119, Uganda followed at 142 with a score of 26, then Kenya.

Burundi was at the bottom of the pack with a score of 20 at position 159. All East African countries dropped in score except Uganda whose score remained unchanged.

The highest scoring country in Sub Saharan Africa was Botswana with a score of 63 followed by Cape Verde (57) and Seychelles (55). Kenya is ranked 35th in Sub Saharan Africa.

“Kenya’s decline calls to question reforms that have been instituted in various sectors since the adoption of the Constitution,” said Mr Samuel Kimeu, the executive director of Transparency International Kenya.

Mr Kimeu called for an audit of the reform process should be done to isolate areas of weakness that continue to provide fertile ground for corruption.

He said inaction or slow action on corruption cases may have contributed to a high perception of corruption.